Amritsar da Safar

This one's from mom:

One fine morning I told Smitha that I would like to visit the 'Golden Temple' in Amritsar, and her immediate reaction was "Let's Go".

And when I told Praveen about our plan he said "Yes, that sounds good, and you can make it when I am with Daddy"

Mahi also gave the 'go ahead' signal !!

So it was planned either in June or December cause that's when Praveen visits us every year. June is too hot, December will be too cold, thus ran our thoughts and ultimately we decided on December. The weather reports were scary, and I developed a knee pain, so we were hesitant to take off but decided - Now or Never - and went along.

We booked our trip for 25th of December, little knowing that 23rd to 25th of December are Guru Gobind Singh's birthday celebrations. With all these adversities we set flight, and landed at Amritsar on 25th late afternoon.

First impression of the city is it's rustic, dusty, unfinished look all along, from the airport to our destination - with a Punjabi Homestay in a gated community called Imperial City, with jumbo sized houses and quite isolated from the main city.

But once we met the lady of the house, she brightened the atmosphere with her friendly chatter.

Evening, freshened up with tea in our room and planned to go out, but could not get any taxi or auto. Then just like a godsend the sardarji who brought us from the airport and who by chance gave his cell number to Smitha was contacted and became our man-of-the-trip for all three days. A warm and friendly local guy, Savinder Singh was our guide too.

Day 1:

As we entered the temple area in the evening we were mesmerized by the first sight of the Maharaj Ranjit Singh statue, erected on a huge and beautiful pedestal:

The entire courtyard was well lit, with only walkways for pedestrians, everyone taking pictures and shopping and relaxing on the benches along the road.

That street reminded me of our midnight walk on the streets of Las Vegas.

The people of Punjab are humble, hospitable and friendly. As we entered the Golden Temple, we witnessed a show of fire crackers as finale for the G G Singh anniversary.

I sat near the Amrith Sarovar (lake of nectar) taking in the beauty & serenity of the place, while Smitha and Savinder Singh went around the sarovar.

We had a nice punjabi dinner at Kundan da dhabha and then settled for a good nights rest.

Day 2:

The man-of-the-tour sardarji (or was it our host) suggested that we should make a trip to Sadda Pind (our village) a one hours drive from Amritsar. At one go we could see and feel the art & culture of the people of Punjab. We spent nearly four hours there including a good lunch.

Smitha wheeled me around the village in a wheel chair, so I was able to take it and not feel tired at all and enjoyed the hospitality of the people, starting from mouth watering Makki da roti & Sarson da saag.

Evening we again visited the Dharam Singh market outside the Golden temple, and did a little bit of shopping, mostly paapads.

Day 3

An off-the-routine cross country trip to a place called Tarn Taran. This was not on our plan, but strangely so happened that we chanced upon a Punjab state guide in our room, and Smitha picked up this place. Started off at 9 am. Our man-of-tour advised us to pack and move out in the morning itself, so we could go directly to the airport after the day out. So we had a quick breakfast and bid goodbye to our host Romy ji.

A foggy day, the entire route was lined on both sides with Sarson da keti, bright yellow flowers, it was a beautiful drive, and then we reached the Gurudwara.

Here I should mention that the approach to the Gurudwaras are crowded, chaos everywhere with vehicles and people, but once we reach the inside, it is so beautiful and serene. This Sarovar is bigger than the Golden Temple's, surrounded by rooms for meditation with adjacent historical buildings (it is told that during the anti sikh riots, this place was badly hit)

After an hour or so, we visited the Golden Temple for final darshan. Also a remark by our host and Savinder ji, and others that they were impressed that two ladies, by themselves, had come all the way from Hyderabad just to visit the Golden Temple, and that too on such an auspicious day, is worth mentioning.

This time saw the temple on a wheel chair pushed by an old Sardarji, shooing away everyone around and forcing me to 'mata tek' (touching forhead ) to every corner before entering the sanctum sanctorium, through a special queue for senior citizens. It was nice to be inside the shrine for a few minutes. 

Then finally bidding goodbye to Amritsar & proceeding to the airport just on time.

Thanks to Smitha, I enjoyed the trip.